Hysteresis and Related Error Mechanisms in the NIST Watt Balance Experiment

The NIST watt balance experiment is being completely rebuilt after its 1998 determination of the Planck constant. That measurement yielded a result with an approximately 1×10⁻⁷ relative standard uncertainty. Because the goal of the new incarnation of the experiment is a ten-fold decrease in uncertainty, it has been necessary to reexamine many sources of systematic error. Hysteresis effects account for a substantial portion of the projected uncertainty budget. They arise from mechanical, magnetic, and thermal sources. The new experiment incorporates several improvements in the apparatus to address these issues, including stiffer components for transferring the mass standard on and off the balance, better servo control of the balance, better pivot materials, and the incorporation of erasing techniques into the mass transfer servo system. We have carried out a series of tests of hysteresis sources on a separate system, and apply their results to the watt apparatus. The studies presented here suggest that our improvements can be expected to reduce hysteresis signals by at least a factor of 10—perhaps as much as a factor of 50—over the 1998 experiment.